1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a nonaqueous electrolyte battery incorporating a case constituted by a laminate film accommodating a battery element.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, a multiplicity of portable electronic apparatuses, such as camcoders, portable telephones and portable computers, are coming. An attempt has been made to reduce the size and weight of the apparatuses. As a portable power source for the electronic apparatuses, batteries, in particular, secondary batteries, and more particularly nonaqueous secondary batteries (so-called lithium-ion batteries) have energetically researched and developed to realize a thin and foldable battery.
As an electrolyte having a variable shape, a solidified electrolytic solution has energetically been researched and developed. In particular, attraction is being given to a gel electrolyte which is a solid electrolyte containing a plasticizer and a polymer and solid electrolyte containing a lithium salt dissolved in the polymer.
To use the advantageous characteristics of the small thickness and weight of the foregoing battery, a variety of batteries have been studied. The batteries are batteries which incorporate so-called laminate films each of which is constituted by a plastic film or by bonding a plastic film and a metal member to accommodate the battery element.
For example, the secondary battery must incorporate a control circuit arranged to control the charge and discharge operations and disposed in a periphery of the battery. Therefore, the structure must be formed such that a sufficiently large space is created to mount the charge and discharge control circuit while enlargement of the size is being prevented.
When the battery is accommodated in a container, the size of the battery must be reduced and dispersion of the sizes must be prevented. If the size varies considerably, an operation for inserting the battery into the container cannot easily be performed.